Peeler



May 11,1926. f 1,584,249

A. STEINHILBER PEELER Filed July 8, 1925 INVENTOR Z ATTORNEYS Patented May 11, 1926.

UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFICE.

ADOLII-I STEINHILBER, OF ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNQR TO WOOID CONVERSION COMPANY, OF CLOQUET, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

PEELER.

Application filed July 8,

My invention relates to apparatus especially adapted to be used in the manufacture of resilient masses or bodies of fibrous material in the form of sheets, layers or batting, and, to be more, specific, to a device for peeling or stripping sheets .or layers of such material from a conveyor.

I shall describe my invention as applied to the manufacture of a product such as the wood cotton described in the Howard F. lVeiss Patent No. 1,336,402. In general, the method of making this product, as described in this patent, consists in separating wood fibers into a flocculent mass by shredding,

depositing the loose fibers upon a belt or other suitable conveyor so that they arrange themselves in a loose, resilient, heterogeneous mass, and applying an adhesive to the fibers so deposited upon the conveyor. This adhesive can be applied as the fibers are being deposited uponthe conveyor or it ,can be applied after they have been formed into a layer. In either event,.it has been considered necessary I to deposit a very thin layer of dry fibers upon the conveyor before the adhesive solution is applied, the object being to provide a cushion which will prevent the adhesive coated fibers from sticking to the conveyor. It is ordinarily necessary to provide some device for beating the layer of material, after it has been dried, with a view to removing the loose fibers from the bottom of the layer.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide an eflicient means for stripping the layer of material from the conveyor on which it is formed. I have found that it is possible to strip a layer of resilient material, such as wood cotton, from a conveyor in a very efiicient and simple manner without in any way injuring the material even though thelayer of material has a strong tendency to adhere to the conveyor. This is accomplished by utilizing a device which acts upon the material intermittently so as to lift sections of the material from the end of the conveyor" in succession. If a device were employedwhich applied a steady pull to the material as it leaves the end of the conveyor, the material would have a tendency to tear apart whenever the tension in the material, produced by the stripping means, became greater'than the material would stand, andit would be almost impossible to adjust the apparatus so 1925. Serial No. 42,329.

that this condition would not occur at times. The present invention avoids this difficulty by acting upon successive sections of the material so as to. apply tension thereto intermittently, the material being lifted. from the may have a square cross-section, for example, is adapted to lift the advancing sheet of resilientmaterial from the end of. the conveyor by an intermittent movement.

Another feature of my invention consists in providing a stripping device of such a character that it serves asan efiicient means for transferring a web or layer of resilient material from one conveyor to another, as well as stripping this layer ofmaterial from one of .theconveyors. The various objects and advantages of my invention will be ap parent upon considering the following detailed description which is to be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which represents an elevation of my improved stripping device arranged between two conveyors.

The conveyor 1 in the accompanying drawing may be considered as a part of the apparatus described in the IVeiss patent above referred to, inwhich case. this conveyor represents means for passing the layer of material 2 carried thereby through a drying chamber. The resilient, coherent layer of material 2 consists of loosely mat-ted wood fiberscemented together by means of an adhesive which it necessarily causes the layer of material to adhere to the conveyor 1 to some extent. The conveyor 1, which may consist of screening, canvas, or other suitable material,nis carried by-a number of rotatable drums, one of which (shown at 3 in the accompanying drawing) is disposed at the delivery end of the conveyor. The drum 3 is carried by a stationary support 4:; and the shaft 5 of this drum carries a pulley 6.

In the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the su'pport l not only carries the drum 3, but also carries. an angular strip ping member 7 extending parallel to the drum 3 and disposed at a point near the top of the drum. This stripping member is located so as to engage the underside of the layer of material 2 near the point where it leaves the conv yor. This member is pro vided with a shaft 8 supported in suitable bearings in the stationary support 4:; and

this shaft is provided with a pulley 9. fixed thereto by means of which the member '4 can be rotated. In the present instance the pulley 9 is belted to the pulley 6 carried by the shaft 5 of the conveyor drum 3. This conveyor drum is driven by any suitable means, as is well understood by those familiar with the art, and therefore it is not deemed necessary to show a driving means for this drum. In fact this drum can be driven by the conveyor 1 itself. which in turn may be driven by other drums. No means is shown in the accompanying drawing for adjusting the position of the strip ping member 7, but it will be readily understood that the bearings for the shaft 8 could be mounted in slots which would make it possible to alter the position of the member 8 by merely shifting the bearings in these slots.

The stripping member 7 can be constructed in a number of different forms, the important consideration being that the outline of this member is preferably some what irregular. Furthermore, the member 7 should be constructed so that it engages successive sections of the web or layer of material and supports the sections of mate rial at all points on the lower face thereof. The reason for constructing the drum in this manner, for example with a square cross-section, as shown in the drawing, is to cause this member to act upon the layer of material intermittently to remove sections of the layer from the conveyor 1, rather than apply a steady tension to the layer of mate rial. If the stripping member is constructed in this form, it lifts the web of material from the conveyor in substantially the same manner that an operator could strip the layer from the drum if he were to perform this operation by hand. The lifting movement effectively separates the layer from the screen 1 without in any way impairing the quality of the material, and the danger of tearing the web or sheet of material is very slight.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown a second conveyor 9' for the purpose of bringing out the fact that my improved stripping device is an efiicient means for effecting a transfer of material, such as wood cotton in the form of a layer or sheet, from one conveyor to another.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, the

support 4 forms a bearing for the shaft 1O of the conveyor drum 11, which carries the second conveyor 9. The drum 11 is arranged in fairly close proximity to the stripping member 7, so that as the web or layer of material 2 is removed from the conveyor 1, it is deposited or laid upon the second conveyor 9, the stripping member serving as a means for bringing the gap between the two conveyors.

In handling a layer of fragile material, such as a layer of wood cotton, the problem of passing the layer from one conveyor to another oftentimes presents serious difficulties, especially when the transfer is to be made between conveyors carried by relatively large conveyor drums, for example, like the drum 3 in the accompanying drawing. If a stationary support is provided be tween the two conveyors, for'the purpose of holding up the layer of matreial during the transfer from one conveyor to the other, the friction between the layer and stationary support may be great enough to rupture the material. On the other hand, if a rotating cylinder is provided at this point, it not easy to regulate the rotation of the cylinder so as to avoid the disastrous consequences of having the cylinder rotateeither too fast or too slowly. By providing a rotating member of irregular outline, however, such as the stripping member of the present invention, it is possible to effect a transfer of a fragile layer of material from one conveyor to the other without in any way injuring the layer of material. This result is obtained by virtue of the fact that such an irregular member simply lifts the material away from one conveyor and lays it upon the other by an intermittent move ment of the material.

While my invention is well suited to the manufacture of wood cotton after the manner describedin the Weiss patent above referred to, yet it is to be understood that my invention is not limited to any such specific application. It can be used in many industries where it is necessary to solve the problem of removing a layer of material from a conveyor to which the layer of material adheres; and my invention is very useful wherever it is necessary or desirable to perform the double operation of stripping a layer of material from a conveyor and transferring the layer to a second conveyor.

In applying my invention to various purposes, various changes can be made in the details of construction without in any way departing from the spirit of my invention which is not confined to the particular embodiment illustrated and described, but includes such modifications thereof as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination of a conveyor for conveying a coherent layer of material, and

a rotatable member disposed near the delivery end of the conveyor, and arranged to remove the material from the conveyor by in'iparting intermittent impulses to said layer.

2. The combination of a conveyor for conveying a coherent layer of material, and a rotatable member of irregular shape dis posed near the delivery end of the conveyor, and arranged to lift the material from the conveyor.

3. The combination of a conveyor fol-conveying a coherent layer of material, an angular member disposed at the delivery end of the conveyor, and means for rotating said member, the said member being arranged with respect to the conveyor so that the material is lifted from the conveyor by said member.

4. The combination of a conveyor adapted to convey a coherent layer of material, a conveyor drum at the delivery end of the conveyor, a member of irregular shape mounted in close proximity to said druin near the point where the layer of material should leave said conveyor, and means for rotating said member to lift the material from said conveyor.

5. The combination of a conveyor adapted to convey a coherent layer of material, a conveyor drum at the delivery end of the conveyor, a support for said drum, an angular member carried by said support and extending parallel to said drum, said member being mounted near the top of said drum, and means for rotating said member to lift the material from the conveyor.

6. he combination of a conveyor adapted to convey a coherent layer of material, a conveying drum at the delivery end of the conveyor, a support for said drum, a member of square cross-section carried by said support and extending parallel to said drum, said member being disposed near the top of said drum, and means com'iecting said drum and said member whereby the latter is rotated.

7. The combination oi two conveyors arranged end to end and adapted to convey a coherent layer of material, and a rotatable angular member disposed between said conveyors, for transferring the layer of material from one conveyor to the other.

8. The combination 01 two conveyors arranged end to end and adapted to convey a coherent layer of material, a rotatable angular member disposed between said conveyors and near to the delivery end of one of the conveyors, and means for rotating said member whereby successive sections of the layer of material are lifted by said member from the end of the last mentioned conveyor and deposited upon the other conveyor.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature.

ADOLPH STEINHILBER. 

